


Ice Skates and Bright Lights

by NotEvenCloseToStraight



Series: Christmas Fics! [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Music, Christmas Presents, Dorks in Love, First Christmas, Fluff and Mush, Holding Hands, Ice Skating, Love Confessions, M/M, Romantic Fluff, Romantic Gestures, Snow, Tooth Rotting Fluff, literally so much fluff, winteriron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-02 23:03:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16796440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotEvenCloseToStraight/pseuds/NotEvenCloseToStraight
Summary: Frustrated at not being able to find Bucky a perfect gift for their first Christmas together, Tony takes Bucky on a surprise date to give him a rather unorthodox (but completely perfect) present.Winteriron Fluff for the Holidays.





	Ice Skates and Bright Lights

**Ice Skates and Bright Lights**

“Tony?” Bucky opened the door to the penthouse slowly, still a little weirded out by Tony's invitation to ‘ _walk right into the penthouse anytime, you’ve slept here enough you might as well have a key_ ’ that had been announced rather loudly a few weeks before.

They’d only been dating a few months after all, and walking into Tony's personal suite seemed… forward. All the ~~great~~ ~~sex~~ other thingsaside, walking in whenever he wanted still seemed _forward_.

“Tony?” He asked again, and pushed the door open further. “Sugar are you here? JARVIS said you were home so I came to see you.”

There was no answer, the room was empty and Bucky tried to swallow back a rush of disappointment.

Tony had bolted out of bed two mornings previous, interrupting what had a been a fairly spectacular kiss that was _definitely_ leading to better things to shout something about being late for a meeting in British Columbia. He had blown Bucky a half hearted kiss and had quite literally ran out the door clad only in boxers, yelling for JARVIS to make sure the helicopter was ready to go.

Bucky hadn’t heard from him since then, and when his watch had chimed with an alert from JARVIS that Tony was back at the Tower, Bucky had abandoned the run with Sam and Steve and took off back home.

But Tony was nowhere to be found, and Bucky's heart slid to somewhere right around his toes.

There was only one downside to dating Tony Stark, and that was the fact that he was simply never home. Whether it was missions or dealing with SHIELD or accompanying Pepper on business meetings— He felt lucky if he got to see Tony two nights in a row, and there had been very few mornings where he had woken up and Tony was still in bed.

 _Oh well_. Bucky turned to leave, trying to school his features into something less dejected before he had to—

“If I may, Sergeant Barnes.” JARVIS, from the ceiling, and Bucky looked up. “There is a present on the bed for you, Sir left it just before he had to leave again.”

“Thank you, JARVIS.” He said politely, if not awkwardly, having never really adjusted to having an all seeing AI peeking in on his day to say life.

But he smiled when he saw the plainly wrapped package sitting on what had been designated _his_ pillow, a note from Tony pinned on top.

_Bucky baby,_

_So sorry I had to run out on you the other morning, also sorry about forgetting to call. Trust me, I would have much rather lain in bed with you and kissed it up some more._

_Anyway, to make up for it, I have a surprise planned for tonight. Please wear what’s in the box and some boots, we’re going for a little bit of a walk. It’s supposed to be a full moon tonight so we should be able to see the all the Christmas lights perfectly!_

“A little bit of a walk.” Bucky said out loud, and opened the box curiously, pulling out a long scarf in beautiful shade of crystal blue. “Tony wants to go on a _walk_?”

Tony usually wasn’t too keen on outdoor activities, but it was Christmas time, and Bucky was learning that his favorite genius turned into a holiday _fiend_ on December 1st which meant all bets for normal behavior were off.

Classic rock was turned off in favor of Christmas music. Tasteful potted plants swapped out for miles and miles and _miles_ of garlands and accompanying strands of multi colored lights. Healthy green shakes given up for double chocolate peppermint _everything_ and severely spiked eggnog. Fitted suits exchanged for terrible Christmas sweaters.

It was a festive time of year and Tony was a festive type of person.

So sure, if he wanted a moonlit walk through the newly fallen snow to stare up at the Christmas lights, that's exactly what he was going to get.

Bucky smiled to himself and wound the scarf around his neck, tucked the note in a back pocket and headed back down to his own room to track down a pair of hiking boots.

He didn’t know what Tony had planned, but he was ready to enjoy it.

*******************

“Sweetheart, you said a _walk_.” Bucky stared out the window at the rapidly shrinking ground below them. “Why are we way too many hundreds of feet in the air? What part of taking a _walk_ needs to involve a helicopter?” 

“Well, you know.” Tony waited until the craft had turned to head North before he unclipped his lap belt and moved onto Bucky’s lap. “We walked to the helicopter, didn’t we? We walked across the helipad. Walked up the stairs to get to the helipad. That counts, right?”

“Yeah, alright.” Bucky tipped Tony’s chin up and kissed him lightly, beyond pleased when the brunette pursed his lips for another one. “We walked to the helicopter. You’re absolutely right, what was I thinking?”

“Who the hell knows.” Tony smirked and tugged at Bucky’s scarf. “Thank you for wearing this for me. It looks great on you.”

“I’d wear just about whatever you want, Tony.” Bucky tried to get comfortable on the narrow seat, pulling Tony tighter against him. “But while we’re on the subject of presents, have you figured out what you want for Christmas?”

“Haven’t put any thought into it at all.” Tony shrugged off the question and wound his arms around Bucky’s waist, pressing close against the chill in the helicopter. “Doesn’t matter anyway, I know you’ll get me something good.”

Bucky smiled and dropped a kiss onto all that thick hair, but was cursing a blue streak inside, frustrated that he had no idea how to handle this Christmas.

Almost four months they’d been dating now, and even though they had kissed for the first time and slept together for the first time the very same night, every other interaction between them careful and slow, taking their time with every “official” sort of step along the way.

It almost seemed backwards to do it this way— first the mind blowing sex, then the ‘we should spend time together’ talk. Bucky had a toothbrush in Tony's bathroom before they’d even gone on an actual date. There had been a hilarious if not slightly awkward moment where someone had asked Tony out and he had answered with an annoyed, “You know damn well I have a boyfriend!” when in fact, no one knew he had a boyfriend because Bucky didn’t even know if they were calling each other boyfriends yet.

At Thanksgiving, Bucky had finally sat Tony down and asked very seriously if they were going into this holiday season as an official couple, because it was a big step for them and he wanted to know ahead of time so he wouldn’t inadvertently hurt Tony’s feelings by not doing certain things, or over step his boundaries by doing other sort of things.

Tony had smooshed a kiss onto his mouth, declared, “As if I would miss a chance to have a boyfriend during Christmas! This is the most romantic time of the year!”, then spun himself around and turned on his holiday play list, apparently satisfied with his decision and entirely sure the conversation was now over.

Bucky had laughed, had promised to be a very attentive Christmas boyfriend, and set out to try and find Tony the perfect present for their very first Christmas together.

The problem being of course, that there was nothing in the world that made a great present for a billionaire genius who could quite literally invent himself whatever he wanted before he even had his morning coffee. To say Bucky was _stumped_ was putting it lightly, and Tony had been less than helpful when it came to dropping hints.

“You didn’t wear mittens.” Tony said suddenly and Bucky pulled himself from his thoughts to look down at their linked hands with a smile.

“I’m a grown man, Tony, why would I wear mittens?” 

“Grown men wear mittens!” Tony defended loudly and Bucky started laughing. “Don’t laugh! People wear mittens all the time! It’s a real thing!”

“Do _you_ wear mittens, Tony?” Bucky asked mock seriously, squeezing at Tony’s fingers lightly. “Hm?”

“I’ll have you know I own eighteen pairs of mittens, each one more fuzzy than the last.” Tony stuck his nose in the air, and Bucky kissed it promptly, murmuring. “Oh my god, you are _adorable_.”

“I’m not going to argue with you about that, but for right now--” Tony tapped the window excitedly. “We’re here! Come on! Come on let’s go!”

The moment the helicopter set down and the blades stopped spinning, Tony was out the door like a shot, trying his hardest to run through the snow, Bucky trying his hardest not to laugh as Tony hopped through the drifts, arms flailing as he tried not to face plant.

“Sweet thing.” Bucky tromped through the snow easily and slid his arm around Tony’s waist. “Do you want me to carry you?”

“If you carry me, I will break up with you.” Tony threatened. “Just because you’re super serum jacked and I’m normal sized--” Bucky snorted and Tony scowled. “--doesn’t mean I can’t walk through the snow.”

“Aw don’t break up with me sugar.” Bucky swooped down to plant a kiss on his cheek. “I won’t carry you, I’ll just keep my arm right here in case you need it.”

“I don’t need it.” Tony fussed, but Bucky kept it there anyway, helping Tony up and over a few different logs, ducking under branches as they headed through the woods with no discernible goal in mind. 

Tony chatted aimlessly as they walked, talking about the meeting in British Columbia, how pretty the city was, the little shop that he'd found Bucky's scarf and of course, about how upset Pepper had been that he’d been late.

“Although.” He said thoughtfully. “She was probably more upset over the fact that I was wearing suit pants and a suit jacket and no shirt because I’d completely forgotten to grab one on my way out.”

“You didn’t buy a shirt when you got to B.C.?”

“Nah, I told them it was a European look.”

“Oh my god, Tony.”

Almost fifteen minutes later, and abruptly enough that Bucky stumbled over him, Tony turned and headed up a small hill, struggling through the snow until Bucky finally rolled his eyes and picked him up, ignoring Tony’s squawk of outrage in favor of just marching them up to the top and over the hill.

“See how easy that was?” Bucky laughed at Tony’s petulant expression. “What’s the point of dating a super soldier if you can’t be carried around every once in a-- once in a---” Bucky’s voice trailed off when he finally looked around and saw where they were. “Tony, what is this? Where are we?”

Tony wrestled his phone out of his pocket and hit a few buttons and what had previously a rather unremarkable clearing was transformed.

Lights were draped over all the branches, covering the frozen pond with a soft glow. Christmas music played from speakers tucked in weather proof boxes and set at the base of several tree trunks. A plush, padded bench had been set up on one side of the pond, Tony’s favorite hot-cocoa thermos propped on top of it.

And there, right next to the ice, two pair of skates.

“Tony?” Bucky asked again. “What is this?”

“Don’t be mad.” Tony whispered, pulling his hat down further over his ears in an attempt to hide his blush. “But um-- you remember our talk at Thanksgiving? And you asked if we were officially a couple for Christmas?”

“...yes?”

“And I said that I definitely wanted a boyfriend for Christmas because it’s a romantic time of year?”

“Yes.”

“And we decided to get each other presents?”

“Tony, yes, but what--”

“I didn’t know what to get you for Christmas!” Tony blurted. “I have no idea! Zero ideas! Pepper thinks I’m the worst gift giver in the world, but I’ve come along way since the Stuffed Rabbit Incident and I was excited to buy you something but then I realized that there was nothing to buy you!”

He threw up his hands in frustration. “Bucky, you are so romantic. Like ridiculously romantic and I just know you have the best present ever picked out for me and everything I bought for you seems cheap or less-than-heartfelt so I have a pile of crap sitting in the closet at the lab because I kept buying you things and NONE OF THEM WORKED! I hate all of them!”

“You didn’t have to stress about it, Tony, presents don’t matter to me.” Bucky shushed him quickly, pulling his glove off to brush his knuckles over Tony’s cheek. “Honestly. I don’t care about that.”

“Well that works out.” Tony huffed. “Because you’re not getting shit. This is your Christmas present right here.” he made a general motion towards the pond. “Pepper gave me some speech about how quality time is important and I’m always busy so--”

“So you found a little frozen pond in the middle of the woods and decorated it so we could ice skating together?” Bucky finished. “Right?”

“Is it stupid?” Tony’s face fell. “It’s stupid, right? Do you hate it?”

“Actually,” Bucky looked around the beautiful pond, up at the lights and further up to see the stars, then back down at Tony, who was biting his lip anxiously. “Tony, I love this. This is a perfect gift.”

“You’re lying….?” Tony asked hesitantly, and Bucky shook his head adamantly. “You really like it?”

“Are you kidding me?” Bucky grabbed Tony’s hand and started pulling him towards the bench at the bottom of the hill. “I get you to myself for a whole evening? No phone calls, no team, no JARVIS?”

“Well… yeah?”

“Then it’s perfect.” Bucky started unlacing his boots. “I love to skate, Tony, used to do it all the time, reminds me of winters back home before the war. This will be so fun.”

“You’re sure?” Tony asked again. “Because I know one of the perks of dating a billionaire is supposed to be expensive gifts and--”

Bucky shut him up with a long kiss, cupping his face and holding him close. “No, sweet thing, the perk of dating a billionaire is getting to be the one kissing the billionaire. Has nothing to do with the money. Never has, never will.”

“So you can skate, then?” Tony turned bright pink at Bucky’s sweet words, and changed the subject to cover his blush. “Because I haven’t been skating since I hit puberty, and that was a long time ago.”

“Don’t worry, baby.” Bucky winked and grabbed the skates. “I won’t let you fall.”

****************

Jingle Bells was playing from the speakers over the makeshift rink when they took the first steps onto the ice, and even though Bucky remembered how to skate almost immediately, Tony was far less sure of himself.

“Tony!” Bucky went speeding by, whipping around Tony in quick circles and making the genius flail wildly so he wouldn’t fall. “This was a wonderful idea!”

“I feel like you either lied to me about not having skated since before the war, or that the serum gives you perfect balance.” Tony complained, and Bucky slowed down to skate figure eights around him with a pleased grin. “What was I thinking doing something outside, we should have just gone and watched the skaters at Rockefeller Center!”

“Aw baby, no.” Bucky grabbed him and whirled them around. “This is much more fun then watching!”

“Don’t let me go!” Tony shrieked, arms windmilling as he nearly fell and Bucky snatched his hands quickly, holding him steady as he switched to skating backwards, pulling Tony around the pond.

“This is the worst!” Tony lamented. “I’m gliding on water with knives on my feet! Why do people do this? How is this romantic?”

“It’s very romantic and I’m enjoying it very much.” Bucky turned them in a slow circle as Tony held on for dear life. “But tell me baby, why didn’t you practice skating? Were you just planning on just drinking cocoa and ogling me while I skated by myself, because _that_ isn't romantic at all.”

“That was my plan if you wore sparkly skating tights.” Tony grumbled. “But you didn’t wear those did you? You wore sensible pants so now I have to skate with you to keep this a real date, I guess.”

“Well I wore the scarf, didn’t I?” Bucky started to skate a little faster and Tony’s eyes flew open wide in renewed panic. “You could have included sparkly tights and I would’a worn those too.”

“Really?” Tony glanced up from watching his feet long enough to send Bucky a quick smile. “Let’s revisit that idea sometime when I’m not scared of impaling myself on a toe pick.”

“I’ll hold you to it.” Bucky winked, and when Tony stumbled, he caught him with a grin. “Aw does me winking make your knees weak, sugar?”

“I plead the fifth.” Tony finally relaxed enough to loosen his death grip on Bucky’s hands. “But yeah, yeah it does. You’d think after all the sex that whole weak kneed thing would go away, but it sure hasn’t gone anywhere yet.”

“I’m real glad to hear that.” Bucky drew Tony close for a sweet kiss, and took him around the pond again. “I hope I always make your knees weak, Tony.”

********************

“This is a change from your usual dates.” He commented later, when they’d stopped for hot chocolate, sharing the thermos between them and trading kisses as they sat on the plush bench.

“Is change bad?” Tony was starting to shiver just a little bit, so Bucky tucked him into his side and held him closer. “I mean, it’s not exactly pizza in Rome but I thought it was alright.”

“Yeah, pizza in Rome, what was that our third date?” Bucky blew out an exasperated breath. “You do know when I said Roman pizza was the best, I meant the little shop down on the corner of sixth, not like… Rome, _Italy_.”

“In retrospect, I realize that.” Tony admitted. “But your face when you got on the jet was pretty funny. And it was even funnier when I got you over the ocean and you started panicking. And it was really really good pizza.”

“It was really really good pizza.” He budged a kiss to Tony’s cold ear. “But this is a nice change. Just us hanging out. No one’s busy, no one is around to interrupt us, no one had to spend a bunch of money. This is just as fun as the fancier stuff we do.”

“Hmm.” Tony tugged his gloves off so they could hold hands, and Bucky did the same, neither of them able to help their smile when their palms fit together perfectly. “You want to do more of this sort of thing more often?”

“I don’t care what we do as long as I’m with you, Tony.” He said honestly. “But things like this are fun.”

“Cause you’re an old fashioned boy from the forties who doesn’t need all the fancy tech of this new and scary century?” Tony made his eyes comically wide and Bucky’s laugh was soft when he leaned in and whispered--

“It’s more about having you all to myself, Tony. Don’t want to share you with anyone or anything. Dates like this mean you’re thinking about me and no one else, yeah?”

“I’m pretty sure I only ever think about you.” Tony admitted, soft and a little unsure and Bucky caught him in a long kiss, dragging at his bottom lip and gathering that ridiculously perfect butt into his hands to pull Tony into his lap.

“I’m pretty sure I only ever think about you, too.” Bucky murmured when Tony broke the kiss and Tony nodded, pushing their foreheads together while he tried to catch his breath.

“I used to watch the pairs ice dancing on TV, you know for the Olympics or whatever?” He started after a minute, and Bucky hummed something in acknowledgment but didn’t answer, still floating in a haze from their kiss. “They were always so beautiful skating together? But then they would do those lifts and I would hate it because it looked so dangerous! The guy would just chuck the girl in the air and someone could die! They could lose a head or their fingers. For fucks sake, one of the moves is called a death spiral. A death spiral. Who puts on skates and says ‘hey let’s try a death spiral’?”

“Tony.” Bucky’s laugh vibrated through him and into Tony’s body. “I’m sure they practice on land first. Besides, no one attempts that sorta thing without knowing their partner can handle it.”

“All I’m saying is, they would only call it a death spiral if it’s caused deaths before.” Tony maintained. “No thank you.”

“You fly around in a metal suit all day.” Bucky pointed out. “But being lifted above someone’s head bothers you?”

“I built my suit.” Tony countered. “I know that barring any sort of horrible accident or unforeseen circumstance, I’m fine in it. But a lift? What if my partner sneezes and I chop their head off with my skate?”

You tellin’ me you never did any lifts growing up, Tony?” Bucky asked curiously. “I see your point and all, but what’s that movie that Clint makes us watch, Dirty Dancing? You never did that sorta thing? I thought everyone did that sorta thing.”

“Did you and Steve do that?”

“I was th’ one to teach Stevie how to dance.” Bucky said easily. “Course we practiced lifts, you know how we danced back then.”

“I need video proof.” Tony blurted. “Video proof of you teaching Steve to do a lift because that’s the best thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”

“Why don’t I give you a hands on lesson instead.” Mind made up, Bucky shifted Tony off his lap and then pulled him from the bench and back out onto the ice. “C’mere and I’ll lift you.”

“The hell you will.” Tony folded his arms stubbornly. “We are not doing that.”

“Come on.” He cajoled, tilting his head and smiling coaxingly. “Don’t you trust me? I won’t drop you, come on.”

“Bucky--”

“Come find out what all the fuss is about.” Bucky backed up a little and held out his arms. “Skate as fast as you can here, and I’ll show you why it’s so fun.”

“Bucky--”

“Hey, this is my Christmas present, isn’t it?” Blue eyes sparked in a challenge. “You really gonna tell me no?”

“That’s not fair!” Tony wailed. “That’s absolutely playing dirty.”

“Nah it ain’t. I’ll show you how we play dirty later.” Bucky winked and Tony muttered a curse and looked away as red painted his cheeks. “Just try, Tony. I won’t let you fall.”

“Little late for that.” Tony rubbed at the back of his neck self consciously. “Already went and fell, Buck.”

The words were said lightly, but there was nothing _light_ about them, and even though they were too casual to mean anything, they meant just about _everything_ and Bucky swallowed hard as his heart started pounding, his mouth suddenly dry over all the things that hadn’t been said yet between them.

“Come here.” he finally managed. “Trust me, yeah?”

Tony still looked a little skeptical, but he skated a few circles cautiously, steadying himself on the ice before dashing as fast as he could-- which wasn’t very fast at all-- towards Bucky with his hands outstretched, a half panicked-- “You better catch me, soldier!”-- when he got closer.

Bucky caught him alright, caught him and lifted him right up above his head and Tony flung his arms out wide and nearly screamed in surprise and excitement as Bucky spun them around and around.

It had started snowing at some point while they were skating, and even though Bucky hadn’t noticed it then, he certainly noticed it _now_ as fluffy flakes started landing in Tony’s hair and clinging to his eyelashes, his cheeks bright red with cold and scrunched up with his smile.

{{[ART](https://not-close-to-straight.tumblr.com/post/180691315653/the-gif-maybe-well-see-how-it-looks-posted)!!}}

He hadn’t stopped laughing yet, too thrilled with being this high in the air, and in the background music was jingling while the rest of the forest was still and quiet and it was just them alone beneath the stars and the lights and it was--

 _It was perfect_.

“Christ, I love you.” Bucky breathed and time seemed to go very still as Tony’s grin slipped and his eyes widened.

“Wh-What did you say?”

Bucky brought him back down to the ice carefully, keeping his left arm tight around Tony’s waist to hold him steady, his other hand reaching up to brush snowflakes away, to trace the sparkle of ice crystals along Tony's jaw, pale eyes nearly glowing as he leaned in to touch first their noses, and then their mouths together in a sweet kiss.

“Tony, I love you.”

“Since when?” Tony squeaked. “Since--since now?”

“I don’t really know.” Bucky shook his head but his smile was a little incredulous. “I don’t know when I fell in love with you Tony but-- but--” he shook his head again, because the words just weren’t working right. “It just seemed like the right time to tell you, when you’re all pretty and soft like this, smilin’ and happy…”

“Oh.” Tony chewed at his lip, trying not to smile so big, and utterly failing. “Well that’s good, because I love you too.”

“Yeah?” Bucky kissed him again and Tony threw his arms around Bucky’s neck to keep him close, drawing it out until they were both panting, their breath puffing in the air between them.

“Nope, come back.” Tony said when Bucky went to pull away and Bucky huffed a laugh and came back for another kiss, skating backwards in a slow line and bringing Tony with him so they could kiss and skate and sing along to the music, whispering shared, “I love you’s” until Tony’s teeth were starting to chatter and even Bucky’s arm was starting to ache from the cold.

“You gonna let me carry you back to the helicopter?” Bucky asked as they ditched their skates and finished off the cocoa.

“I honestly might freeze if you don’t.” Tony admitted. “And you’re my boyfriend so it’s definitely your job to keep me warm.”

“Oh sure thing, sweet thing.” Bucky leaned in for one more kiss, sipping the chocolate from Tony’s lips and sighing when cold fingers slipped under his coat collar to press against his neck. “I got all sorts of ways planned to keep you warm.”

“Oh by the way?” Tony snuggled close when Bucky picked him up. “If you bought me anything, take it back. This is the perfect Christmas present.”

“Being carried?”

“No.” Tony shook his head. “Saying I love you.”

Bucky just smiled, and hurried them home.


End file.
